Cleta Whitacre was born on March 27, 1914, in Herrin, the daughter of Rolla Franklin and Gertrude Delia (Walker) Greer.
She was united in marriage to Thomas Earl Whitacre on December 30, 1933, in a secret ceremony at a Methodist parsonage in Jonesboro, Illinois. The marriage had to be kept secret because in those days it was forbidden for women teachers to marry. Together they shared nearly 37 years of marriage until his death came on May 16, 1970.
Cleta revealed that at the end of her first year of teaching, after all of her pupils had passed their required examinations, she took great pleasure in telling then Superintendent Don C. Moss that he had to eat his words. Earlier in the year, when she had asked him about the ruling forbidding marriage, he remarked that he had never seen a female teacher successfully complete a school year after getting married.
She was educated in the Williamson County schools and taught in Williamson County for over 60 years. After completing her two-year Elementary Teaching degree, she taught from 1933 through 1944 in the rural schools of East Hampton, West Hampton, Wolf Creek and Hurricane. Cleta received her Bachelor of Education degree in 1943. She then taught Math and Business in Johnston City from 1944 through 1952.
After this time, Cleta taught for the next 32 years in the business department of the Marion school system until her retirement in 1984. During her teaching career in Marion, she received her Master of Business Education and School of Administration degree.
Cleta was always willing to give her time to others and when John A. Logan College started its Adult and Continuing Education Department, she taught 27 years for John A. Logan College in adult education. Her impact upon the lives of the many students she touched through her career was immense.
Cleta received many honors and awards during her long career, many as a writer of articles for publication, for her speaking and her leadership. Some of the more notable were; the “Distinguished Service Award” for the Williamson County Alumni Association – SIUC, “Woman of Achievement” by the Greater Area Chamber of Commerce in 2001, “Illinois Master Teacher” in Williamson County and the Phi Delta Kappa’s “Distinguished Educators Award” for the Southern Illinois Area.
The Illinois Future Business Leaders of America public speaking event was named “The Cleta Whitacre Public Speaking Event” in honor for her services given. She also received, the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Marion Chamber of Commerce for 40 or more years of service to education and community and the Rosemary Berkel Crisp Award in 1999 in recognition of special women.
She also served as a consultant for the Sesquicentennial History Book for Williamson County in 1989.
Cleta was a longtime member of Third Baptist Church of Marion. Some of her other affiliations include; The American and Illinois Vocational Association, National and Illinois Business Education Association, Future Business Leaders of America, Delta Pi Epsilon, Delta Kappa Gamma, Pi Lambda Theta, American Association of University Women, SIUC Alumni Association Life Member, a 50 year member and Past Worthy Matron of LeRoy A. Chapter No 350, Order of the Eastern Star, Hearts Helping Hearts, the Business and Professional Women’s Organization and the Illinois and Williamson County Retired Teachers Association.
Cleta was always interested in helping others. She loved serving on scholarship committees in the organizations she was involved in. She also spent a lot of time on the “Baby Bib Ministry” of the Third Baptist Church. Cleta enjoyed watching St. Louis Cardinal Baseball and Marion football and basketball along with most other sports.
In her quiet times, she loved to read and with the organizations she was involved, she found enjoyment in preparing their yearbooks. One of her favorite activities was the “Hearts Helping Hearts Closed/Open Golf Tournament” for those persons who had had open heart surgery.
In a 1984 newspaper article honoring her and other retirees, Whitacre reflected on her earliest years in the teaching profession, “It was so different to go from a one-room schoolhouse to a larger school. I used to chop wood and do all my janitorial work. Teaching school has always been a challenge to me but the first year (1933) had to be the greatest. I was an energetic, enthusiastic young teacher who walked into a rural school with 32 students in seven different grades. I knew I had to be a success or my dream of a life-time teaching career was gone.”
Cleta, age 91, of Marion, passed away with her family at her side at 1:30 a.m. on Monday, January 16, 2006, in Lakeland Regional Medical Center of Lakeland, Fla. She had been living in Florida, for the past six months to be near her son, Bob.
A person known for her giving, Cleta will be missed, but her memory and life’s accomplishments will continue long into the future.
With her passing, she is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, William Rolla “Bill” and Jan Whitacre of Sulphur, La. and Robert Earl “Bob” and Rosemary Whitacre of Lakeland, Fla.; eight grandchildren, Celeste Owens and husband, Buddy, of Waverly Hall, Ga., Tommy Whitacre and wife, Brenda, of Grand Cayman Island, Katie Whitacre of Sulphur, La., Michael Watson and wife, Tracy, of Orange, Texas, Becky Ruben and husband, Chuck, of Brookfield, David Stroh and wife, Angie, of Springfield, Robert “Bob” Whitacre and wife, Melinda, of LoveIand, Colo., Jeffrey Whitacre and wife, Andrea, of Colbert, Wash., LaKrecia Shoemaker and husband, Chad, of Lakeland, Fla., and Patti Dean of Fort Meyers, Fla., 17 great grandchildren; son-in-law, Raymond Stroh of Springfield; sister, Leta Lenora Merritt of San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; other extended family and many friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, daughter, Peggy Jane Stroh on Jan. 31, 2002, and her brother, Clifton Greer.
Arrangements for Cleta Whitacre were entrusted to Wilson McReynolds Funeral Home, 900 N. Court St. in Marion.
The time of visitation was held on Thursday, January 26 between the hours of 5 and 8 p.m. at the funeral home. During the time of visitation on Thursday, at 6 p.m., members of the LeRoy A. Chapter No. 350 Order of the Eastern Star provided a farewell service.
On Friday, Jan. 27 at 10 a.m., a Celebration of Life Service was held at Wilson-McReynolds Funeral Home of Marion, with the Rev. Scott Kallem and Dr. Jerry Ford presiding. Following the service she was interred next to her husband in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Energy.
(Marion Daily Republican articles from January 2006, February 2001; Sesquicentennial History of Williamson County; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 12/02/2013)